Automation

Venator´s automation has been developed in close cooperation with specialist Norwegian companies to achieve an unrivaled degree of reliable hands-free automation, uniquely using the same equipment for shallow water to 3000m water depths. The launch and recovery system is designed for simplicity and robustness and can handle and deploy more than 1O.OOO nodes from a single vessel at speeds in excess of five knots. Thereby increasing the potential size and/or the density of coverage of OBN surveys while avoiding time-consuming overlapping shooting.

The fully automated process consists of node racks, transport system, rope management modules, On/Off machine, washing unit, launch & recovery module and winches. Several of the main components are built and tested and provide for:

Safe and hands-free operations

Up to 6 knots deployment speed and recovery speeds up to 4 knots at 25 meter node spacing

Flexible system to suit most vessel types or containerized solutions

To see Venator in real life action please view the first video from our full scale sea trials during September 2017.

The following is a schematic of our launch and retrieval system

For an overview of our automation concept please have a look at the following animation we posted in 2015.

About us

Privately held inApril AS, a leading innovator in marine seismic technology for the oil and gas industry, designs and manufactures the complete and fully integrated ocean bottom node based seabed seismic solution, Venator. A total rethink in the design, costs, operational efficiency and safety within seabed seismic acquisition.